Post by Avenger on Aug 29, 2013 9:00:44 GMT -5
Since Willy and Sky recently posted some great threads of their travels, and there have been a lot of other good stories of Flybridger's adventures I thought it might be a good idea to have a place where we could share our stories of trips big and small. If it draws enough interest maybe we'll make it a sub forum. So everybody please contribute and it doesn't have to be just boat related.
To start, here's my tale of the Northeast '13 HOF Rendezvous:
Leaving Long Island, we had a lot of trouble with fouled running gear which required me to take a couple of unpleasant and occasionally bloody swims to scrape barnacles. We started out doing 13 MPH (not knots) in the bay, I felt like I could swim faster. So before we hit the inlet we anchored and I scraped the props. Now we're doing 15 MPH. Yippie.
The plan was to run out to Montauk, anchor up overnight in Montauk Lake and then fish the "Sportfishing Capitol of the World" in the morning. Unfortunately we got so far behind the clock running slow that I made an executive decision to anchor up in Shinnecock instead. Montauk would have been at least two more hours and it would have been getting dark. Next morning I took another swim and scraped the shafts. Now we're averaging 17 MPH. Still not our normal, but better. We caught a few nice sized bluefish when we trolled some surface action, probably in the 10-12 lb range. Lots of fun, all went back over the side.
Passing Montauk Light:
The crossing was uneventful and we motored into New Harbor. There's some interesting stuff in the harbor:
The next adventure was docking. Payne's Dock is real casual. A little too casual. It's like Margaritaville North. It's a shock at first, but after a while you start to appreciate the dock crew and their ability to cram boats into places that they just can't go. But they do. At one point they floated a raft of four boats off the dock, brought one in, and brought the raft back. If it took fifteen minutes it was a lot. It's still a little unnerving though:
We spent a day wandering through the town and around the island:
It's pretty cool place, lots of old hotels and other "atmosphere" but it's probably a ghost town in winter:
Friday night we were aboard The General, a converted WWI Navy tug for "Colors." This is definitely something to see. A flag lowering ceremony complete with Taps on the bugle, the National Anthem provided by Scott's (sgharford) friend and Elvis impersonator Rob, and cannons. Yes, I said Cannons, and I don't mean Canon in C-minor. The owner of The General is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. Everybody is welcome onboard, he grabs kids out of the crowd to help out with the cannons, horns and klaxons. The final cannon is a line-throwing gun for a Breeches Bouy. It uses a tennis ball for wadding. Hold your ears.
Saturday night we all met up for dinner at the Narragansett. Scott's friend Rob provided some Elvis dinner music. Sorry, no pictures of that, just the group photo that I'm not in:
A lot of my time was spent wandering the docks and visiting with various HOF friends and just general boat-peeping. After dinner Saturday I stopped by Scott's boat to say hi and B.S., and who do we find there just hanging out with the guys is the owner of The General. Like I said, real cool guy.
We pulled out fairly early Sunday morning for the long, slow ride back. It took, no kidding, at least seven dockhands to squeeze Avenger out of her spot, which now had yet another boat in the way. But they're good. We didn't touch another boat, and I didn't have to touch a gear until we cleared the dock.
The run back was slow but uneventful. We tried fishing a few spots but found nothing. There were HUGE pods of Bunker (Menhaden) swimming out there. Literally acres of them. But they were unmolested by any gamefish.
So I was a little disappointed with the boat's performance, but otherwise it was a great trip.
To start, here's my tale of the Northeast '13 HOF Rendezvous:
Leaving Long Island, we had a lot of trouble with fouled running gear which required me to take a couple of unpleasant and occasionally bloody swims to scrape barnacles. We started out doing 13 MPH (not knots) in the bay, I felt like I could swim faster. So before we hit the inlet we anchored and I scraped the props. Now we're doing 15 MPH. Yippie.
The plan was to run out to Montauk, anchor up overnight in Montauk Lake and then fish the "Sportfishing Capitol of the World" in the morning. Unfortunately we got so far behind the clock running slow that I made an executive decision to anchor up in Shinnecock instead. Montauk would have been at least two more hours and it would have been getting dark. Next morning I took another swim and scraped the shafts. Now we're averaging 17 MPH. Still not our normal, but better. We caught a few nice sized bluefish when we trolled some surface action, probably in the 10-12 lb range. Lots of fun, all went back over the side.
Passing Montauk Light:
The crossing was uneventful and we motored into New Harbor. There's some interesting stuff in the harbor:
The next adventure was docking. Payne's Dock is real casual. A little too casual. It's like Margaritaville North. It's a shock at first, but after a while you start to appreciate the dock crew and their ability to cram boats into places that they just can't go. But they do. At one point they floated a raft of four boats off the dock, brought one in, and brought the raft back. If it took fifteen minutes it was a lot. It's still a little unnerving though:
We spent a day wandering through the town and around the island:
It's pretty cool place, lots of old hotels and other "atmosphere" but it's probably a ghost town in winter:
Friday night we were aboard The General, a converted WWI Navy tug for "Colors." This is definitely something to see. A flag lowering ceremony complete with Taps on the bugle, the National Anthem provided by Scott's (sgharford) friend and Elvis impersonator Rob, and cannons. Yes, I said Cannons, and I don't mean Canon in C-minor. The owner of The General is one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. Everybody is welcome onboard, he grabs kids out of the crowd to help out with the cannons, horns and klaxons. The final cannon is a line-throwing gun for a Breeches Bouy. It uses a tennis ball for wadding. Hold your ears.
Saturday night we all met up for dinner at the Narragansett. Scott's friend Rob provided some Elvis dinner music. Sorry, no pictures of that, just the group photo that I'm not in:
A lot of my time was spent wandering the docks and visiting with various HOF friends and just general boat-peeping. After dinner Saturday I stopped by Scott's boat to say hi and B.S., and who do we find there just hanging out with the guys is the owner of The General. Like I said, real cool guy.
We pulled out fairly early Sunday morning for the long, slow ride back. It took, no kidding, at least seven dockhands to squeeze Avenger out of her spot, which now had yet another boat in the way. But they're good. We didn't touch another boat, and I didn't have to touch a gear until we cleared the dock.
The run back was slow but uneventful. We tried fishing a few spots but found nothing. There were HUGE pods of Bunker (Menhaden) swimming out there. Literally acres of them. But they were unmolested by any gamefish.
So I was a little disappointed with the boat's performance, but otherwise it was a great trip.